Analyzing Editorials, Editorial Cartoons, Or Op-Ed Commentaries
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
7.6 Analyzing Editorials, Editorial Cartoons, or Op-Ed Commentaries Standard 7.6: Analyzing Editorials, Editorial Cartoons, or Op-Ed Commentaries Analyze the point of view and evaluate the claims of an editorial, editorial cartoon, or op-ed commentary on a public issue at the local, state or national level. (Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for History and Social Studies) [8.T7.6] Building Democracy for All 1 US editorial cartoon 1901. President Teddy Roosevelt watches GOP team pull apart on tariff issue. FOCUS QUESTION: How Do Writers Express Opinions through Editorials, Editorial Cartoons, and Op-Ed Commentaries in Print and Online? Standard 7.6 asks students to become critical readers of editorials, editorial cartoons, and Op-Ed commentaries. Critical readers explore what is being said or shown, examine how information is being conveyed, evaluate the language and imagery used, and investigate how much truth and accuracy is being maintained by the author(s). Then, they draw their own informed conclusions. Building Democracy for All 2 Modules for This Standard Include: 1. INVESTIGATE: Evaluating Editorials, Editorial Cartoons, and Op-Ed Commentaries MEDIA LITERACY CONNECTIONS: Evaluating Memes and TikToks as Political Cartoons 2. UNCOVER: Deepfakes, Fake Profiles, and Political Messaging 3. ENGAGE: Should Facebook and Other Technology Companies Regulate Political Content on Their Social Media Platforms? 1. INVESTIGATE: Evaluating Editorials, Editorial Cartoons, and Op-Ed Commentaries Teaching students how to critically evaluate editorials, editorial cartoons, and Op-Ed commentaries begins by explaining that all three are forms of persuasive writing. Writers use these genres (forms of writing) to influence how readers think and act about a topic or an issue. Editorials and Op-Ed commentaries rely mainly on words, while editorial cartoons combine limited text with memorable visual images. But the intent is the same for all three - to motivate, persuade, and convince readers. Many times, writers use editorials, editorial cartoons, and Op-Ed commentaries to argue for progressive social and political change. Fighting for the Vote with Cartoons shows how cartoonists used the genre to build support for women's suffrage (The New York Times, August 19, 2020). Another example is Thomas Nast's 1869 "Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner" cartoon that argues that everyone should have the right to vote - published at a time when African Americans, Native Americans, Building Democracy for All 3 and women could not. Nast constructs a powerful appeal using few words and an emotionally-charged image. Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Dinner (November 1869), by Thomas Nast | Public Domain But these same forms of writing can be used by individuals and groups who seek to spread disinformation and untruths. Large numbers of teens and tweens tend to trust what they find on the web as accurate and unbiased (NPR, 2016). They are unskilled in separating sponsored content or political commentary from actual news when viewing a webpage or a print publication. In online settings, they can be easily drawn off-topic by clickbait links and deliberately misrepresented information. The writing of Op-Ed commentaries achieved national prominence at the beginning of June 2020 when the New York Times published an opinion piece written by Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton in which he urged the President to send in armed regular duty American military Building Democracy for All 4 troops to break up street protests across the nation that followed the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers. Many staffers at the Times publicly dissented about publishing Cotton's piece entitled "Send in the Troops," citing that the views expressed by the Senator put journalists, especially journalists of color, in danger. James Bennett, the Times Editorial Page editor defended the decision to publish, stating if editors only published views that editors agreed with, it would "undermine the integrity and independence of the New York Times." The editor reaffirmed that the fundamental purpose of newspapers and their editorial pages is "not to tell you what to think, but help you to think for yourself." The situation raised unresolved questions about the place of Op-Ed commentaries in newspapers and other media outlets in a digital age when the material can be accessed online around the country and the world. Should any viewpoint, no matter how extreme or inflammatory, be given a forum for publication such as that provided by the Op-Ed section of a major newspaper's editorial page? Many journalists as well as James Bennett urge newspapers to not only publish wide viewpoints, but provide context and clarification about the issues being discussed. Readers and viewers need to have links to multiple resources so they can more fully understand what is being said while assessing for themselves the accuracy and appropriateness of the remarks. Building Democracy for All 5 Media Literacy Connections: Interpreting Memes and TikToks as Political Cartoons Political cartoons and comics as well as memes and Tik Toks are pictures with a purpose. Writers and artists use these genres to entertain, persuade, inform, and express fiction and nonfiction ideas creatively and imaginatively. Like political cartoons and comics, memes and Tik Toks have the potential to provide engaging and memorable messages that can influence the political thinking and actions of voters regarding local, state, and national issues. In this activity, you will evaluate the design and impact of political memes, Tik Toks, editorial cartoons, and political comics and then create your own to influence others about a public issue. Activity: Analyze Political Cartoons, Memes, and TikToks Building Democracy for All 6 Suggested Learning Activities Write a Commentary Review the articles Op-Ed? Editorial? & Op Ed Elements. What do all these terms really mean? Have students write two editorial commentaries about a public issue - one with accurate and truthful information; the other using deliberate misinformation and exaggeration. Students review their peers' work to examine how information is being conveyed, evaluate the language and imagery used, and investigate how much truth and accuracy is being maintained by the author(s). As a class, discuss and vote on which commentaries are "fake news." Draw a Political Cartoon for an Issue or a Cause Have students draw editorial cartoons about a school, community or national issue. Post the cartoons on the walls around the classroom and host a gallery walk. Ask the class to evaluate the accuracy and truthfulness of each cartoon. Analyze a Political Cartoon as a Primary Source Choose a political cartoon from a newspaper or online source. Use the Cartoon Analysis Guide from the Library of Congress or a Cartoon Analysis Checklist from TeachingHistory.org to examine its point of view. Building Democracy for All 7 Online Resources for Evaluating Information and Analyzing Online Claims Do the Facts Hold Up? NewseumEd The Fake News Fallacy, The New Yorker (September 4, 2017) Lesson Plan from Common Sense Education for evaluating fake websites which look credible Check, Please! Starter Course - a free online course to develop information literacy skills Interpreting Political Cartoons in the History Classroom, TeachingHistory.org 2. UNCOVER: Deepfakes, Fake Profiles, and Political Messaging Deepfakes, fake profiles, and fake images are a new dimension of political messaging on social media. In December 2019, Facebook announced it was removing 900 accounts from its network because the accounts were using fake profile photos of people who did not exist. Pictures of people were generated by an AI (artificial intelligence) software program (Graphika & the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Lab, 2019). All of the accounts were associated with a politically conservative, pro-Donald Trump news publisher, The Epoch Times. Building Democracy for All 8 The People in These Photos Do Not Exist; Their Pictures Were Generated by an Artificial Intelligence Program Images on Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain Deepfakes are digitally manipulated videos and pictures that produce images and sounds that appear to be real (Shao, 2019). They can be used to spread misinformation and influence voters. Researchers and cybersecurity experts warn that it is possible to manipulate digital content - facial expressions, voice, lip movements - so that was it being seen is "indistinguishable from reality to human eyes and ears" (Patrini, et. al., 2018). You can learn more from the book Deepfakes: The Coming Infocalypse by Nina Schick (2020). For example, you can watch a video of George W. Bush, Donald Trump, and Barack Obama saying things that they never would (and never did) say, but that looks authentic (Link here to Watch a man manipulate George Bush's face in real time). Journalist Michael Tomasky, writing about the 2020 election outcomes in the New York Review of Books, cited a New York Times report that fake videos of Joe Biden "admitting to voter fraud" had been viewed 17 million times before Americans voted on election day (What Did the Democrats Building Democracy for All 9 Win?, December 17, 2020, p. 36). Watch on YouTube https://edtechbooks.org/-zocs To recognize deepfakes, technology experts advise viewers to look for face discolorations, poor lightning, badly synced sound and video, and blurriness between face, hair and neck (Deepfake Video Explained: What They Are and How to Recognize Them, Salon, September